I enjoyed Landon’s minimalist analysis during the Mexico/Poland game. It’s refreshing not having to listen to the constant yammering that the seems to be the habit of our other analysts. Whether this is because he’s not as practiced, I dunno, but so far so good.
All righty then. Let's just say we disagree about whether covering the controversy over arm bands and other FIFA cowardice, or acknowledging fundamental human rights violations in Qatar, amounts to a hit piece.
Props to Peacock, putting the games in 1080P. Really got spoiled watching that Mexico game, but not knowing Spanish made the decision to switch back to Fox for France. Yuck! Maybe that's more to do with my local Fox station, but my point still stands.
With all the extra time added this WC I’m definitely making sure to extend my DVR times by at least a half hour. Jeepers.
Someone mentioned it somewhere else, but the fox coverage does not really elevate the experience. It feels like it could be the world’s softball finals or something. The 2014 coverage was much better. I liked the more international vibe, with former international players from around the world providing perspective. I love our former players, but I enjoy hearing a big and worldly perspective.
We've had to turn the sound off in a few games, probably what would be considered to 'b' ticket games. The announcers in those cases were talking about something, but not the game in front of them. Makes you admire the English pbp guys, who always feel obliged to identify the players even if they get it completely wrong or mis-pronounced.
Who holds the US English language broadcast rights to the 2026 World Cup? Oh please please please someone tell me it’s ESPN. I’ll also take NBC with the team that does the EPL coverage.
I'm afraid that I have bad news for you. FIFA awarded Fox the TV rights to 2026 as a freebie after they awarded this year's World Cup to Qatar.
I enjoyed Landon today (ESP-CRC) talking about whether it was worse to play on a team with your father as coach (which he said he did with the Bradleys) or father in law as coach. He asked rhetorically which would be more "dicey". He quickly said "well, this doesn't have to do with the game at hand so I'll just shut up". Yeah, amateurish, but enjoyable none the less. And it made me wonder what he really thought about the Bradley duo??
Commentary for the most part has been excellent IMO. But I don’t like the abrupt end of games and then no announcement the next game is on the other channel e.g. today after the 8am est game was over on FS1, next thing something else came on and then I realized I had to switch to Fox for the next game. Also, no prime time highlights show, why? I know World Cup Tonight is on but at midnight EST, seriously?
ESPN's presentation of the World Cup in 2014 is still far superior to what Fox has done. But Fox's coverage is better so far this time than it was in 2018. I've really enjoyed Landon Donovan doing color commentary in games with Ian Darke so far. For a guy who isn't experienced as a commentator, Donovan has taken to it naturally and he offers great insight on the games + has a ton of credibility given his experience as a player. I realize I'm extremely biased since Landon is my all-time favorite player, but he's been good so far. I also think Ian Darke was a huge "get" for Fox for this tournament. FWIW, I've also always liked Stu Holden as a color commentator. I know he's a bit on the hyper side, but he has great insight on the game and he's entertaining without being obnoxious the way someone like Alexi Lalas is.
I like Stu Holden but find his energy to be a little over the top… sometimes moving into the spazz zone. I know many don’t like Alexi, but I find him to be entertaining and easy to follow.
PBP is fine but studio stuff on fox is pathetically dumbed down. Really loved hearing about how Harry Kane loves the NFL. NOOOOT!
I'm seriously thinking about investing in Babbel to learn Spanish after some of the stuff I'm watching on Fox. I think I'd rather learn Spanish and follow Telemundo than listen to some of the paid advertisements on Fox.
Is Fox trying to draw in the casual footie fan with Ochocinco? Why else have a former American football player featured so often on the nightly recap show? Am I supposed to care what games he attended, and why choose Ocho to give his Top 5 of the day? No one else wanted the Top 5 feature?
The Fox studio presentation has been awful. As I said earlier, love our former players, but where is the international perspective? I want to hear from former male international players and coaches discussing the broader tournament. The whole thing is so watered down and vapid. Soccer fans are not the audience, unfortunately. They seem to be gearing the broadcast to suburban families with teenage girls or boys. Oh yeah. Case in point, the main British female studio host feels like she doesn’t care. The tone is patronizing, detached and unemotional. It just sucks the life out of things for me…
i think the weirdest part of the coverage for me is the "team bus on the way to the stadium" shots. every time it reminds me of my first world cup, which was interrupted by very similar shots of a white bronco...
Yeah, the only part of the Fox studio broadcast I enjoy is the Team USA Only (or whatever it's called). Just do.not.care about Ochocinco or (God help us!) Piers Morgan?!?! The only banter I sort of enjoy is between Kate and Mo. I like their chemistry.
Futbol Americas had a great segment on where Herc Gomez and Seb Salazar talked US strategy vs England with Juan Carlos Osorio. Osorio’s observations were miles better than anything you’ll see here or anywhere else. Herc and Salazar had good questions for him. If you’re not watching Futbol Americas, you’re missing the best soccer show on English language TV.
Except that it's not on TV. It's on ESPN FC, which is a streaming platform. It's also a Podcast I believe?
In this Croatia-Canada game they keep showing the live table, and its been wrong every time, they also showed Croatia and Morocco drawing 1-1. Come on man.